ARE YOU AMONG THE LIVING?

Are you living in Yeshua? I didn't ask whether you have made a "profession of faith", or even whether you are a "born-again Believer". I asked if you are LIVING in our resurrected Lord. Consider for a moment Galatians 5:22-23 as God's Word describes the fruit of the Spirit. Where there was hopelessness there is now joy; uneasiness is turned to peace; impatience is replaced by long-suffering; harshness is overcome by gentleness; wickedness is transformed into goodness; doubt gives way to faith; arrogance is changed to meekness; lust is converted to temperance. This is how we are to identify the fruit of the Spirit. Note, that it is not fruits of the Spirit; it is singular. All of these changes work together in true Believers to bring about their maturity in God.

You see, we all struggle in the growth process, but if (after a painfully intensive inventory regarding your spiritual life) you can't honestly say that you see growth in all of the areas above, then you are not living the full "resurrected life" in Christ. The true Believer is to bear "fruit", i.e. to exhibit a well-balanced evidence of change in ALL of the areas above. If there is even one area where growth is absent or stagnant, it is cause for IMMEDIATE spiritual alarm. You see, bearing "fruit" (the singular, well-balanced compilation of traits in His Word) is the evidence that we are truly abiding in the vine, and are participants in the resurrected life of Christ. Because all of these attributes work together as one "fruit", if any of the above areas is not in evidence, our "fruit" can NOT be ripe unto harvest.

God wanted us to know where we are spiritually with Him, and where others are as well, so He gave us a gauge to test our lives with Him, a barometer of sorts to find the pressure reading of His influence upon us. This gauge is simply the fruit we bear. If any of the attributes needed to compose the fruit of His Spirit are missing or in disrepair, then we get a low pressure reading. The fruit is still green, and cannot become ripe unto harvest until we make the proper adjustments in our spirit. Now don't get discouraged. Adjustments are not always easy for us, but we are not expected to tackle the problem on our own. That is why we were given God's strength. (He well knows that our own strength is insufficient to bring about the changes He desires for us to make.) So, are we making full use of the strength that we were given? We received all we needed to live the resurrected life of Christ when we received Yeshua as our Lord and Savior. The question remains, are we utilizing it? As we take this strength seriously, standing upon it and allowing it to overcome our own selfish will in all areas of our lives, we find that we are able to yield our spirits to God, truly becoming one with Him. His Spirit will fill us completely, our fruit will ripen, and our barometer reading will indicate a healthy high reading, to full and overflowing! We will even begin to find that we actually love God with all of our heart, our soul, and our mind as we were told to do.

Until we become aware that this process of being joined to the very Spirit of God is necessary, (or sometimes in a misguided effort to circumvent it) we may try to demonstrate how good we are to God, by busying ourselves with the "works" of diligently helping others. In so doing, we hope to gain God's favor (or even to earn the privilege of going to Heaven), and all the while we are basking in the glory that comes our way for being known as "such a good person". Our motives "for "works" must always be closely examined. Ephesians 2:8-10 will clarify that salvation is a gift of God that we are free to accept or reject, but that we can't in any way earn God's favor or buy our way to Heaven through "works"! As Christians, we must also be certain that all of the glory for anything God allows us to achieve goes directly and without reservation to Him! The Bible explains that only God is "good", so the only way we can truly be good is for Him to be working through us. Service to others is not to be "works" performed by us, but the result of a natural outpouring of God working through us when we are living as one with Him in a totally selfless manner. Our righteousness is indeed the righteousness of Christ, and nothing we have achieved on our own. We must, however, fully yield our lives to Christ in order for Him to bring about His righteousness within us! In accordance with II Corinthians 10:3-5, we must be willing to bring all of our thoughts and motivations into close scrutiny before Him, and into submission to Him through obedience. He will not override our will, so we MUST yield it to Him in order for Him to create His righteousness within us.

We are somewhat like a bottle with respect to the capacity of our will vs. the will of God. Just as a bottle will hold only a certain quantity, and no amount of pushing and shoving can increase its capacity, so it is with us. Our capacity is limited as well, and we can either choose to fill it with our will or God's. If we are FILLED with God's will (by being filled with His Spirit), there simply can not be any room whatsoever left for our own. God's Word tells us to BE FILLED with His Spirit in Ephesians 5:18. If He tells us to do it, then we must be able, by His strength, to do so. Indeed, with His strength we can, but until we choose to do so, (submitting ALL of our will to Him), He will not reign and rule in our lives. If we do not allow Him TOTAL freedom to work through us, the growth of His righteousness within us will be stunted, and the barometer reading will be low because the fruit is still green.

We receive further clarification in God's Word to us regarding this submission process. Galatians 2:20 shows us that we need to be spiritually crucified with Christ, killing all of the old self-will, and yielding completely to Christ. Then, as His Spirit fills us to overflowing, we will find that we have been resurrected in Him as well, and are living the resurrected life that He intended for us to live. Even as Yeshua was not just PARTIALLY crucified and resurrected, neither are we to be. Only when we have TOTALLY laid our self-will to rest and given ourselves COMPLETELY TO Him can He fill us and bring our lives into a well-balanced and harmonious fruition. Only then can He ripen our fruit unto harvest.

Is it possible that there is a part of your life that you have not given to Him? Don't you yet trust Him to lovingly tend to it? Maybe you just want to cling to the carnal desires of the world in that area, or are you afraid of what people would say? If God speaks to your heart about an area of strife with His Spirit, please LISTEN. This process of yielding is based entirely upon our trust in Christ to deal rightly with every aspect of our lives. We can trust Him to give us the grace to face any conflict as we yield to Him.

Faith is the word we use in the English language to encompass this process of trusting. Paul said, in II Timothy 4:7, that he had "kept" the faith. To "keep" requires active involvement. Thus, faith is not just a matter of mental acknowledgment, it requires something more, a continuous process of the yielding of self to Christ, a constant stance of fidelity in our spiritual union with Him. In Luke, Yeshua asked if He would find faith when He returned. What a sobering question that is. The mental acknowledgment often referred to as faith is rather common among "Christians" today, but Yeshua sounded as though the faith He was referring to would be mighty scarce indeed when He returned. Will He find this faith that is born of a deep spiritual commitment through the total yielding of the old self and the triumphant living in the resurrected life of Christ? Will He find it in you, and in me? I pray that He will!

In Luke 21:31-36, Yeshua told us that we should know when the kingdom of God is at hand, and to take heed lest our hearts be overcharged with the cares of this life and that day should come upon us unaware, that it would come as a snare on all that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Then He exhorts us to WATCH AND PRAY ALWAYS THAT WE MAY BE ACCOUNTED WORTHY TO ESCAPE ALL THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS, AND TO STAND BEFORE THE SON OF MAN. Take note here that Yeshua is speaking to the Christians that would be reading His Word in the last days. Brothers and sisters in Christ, that's us! Why would He tell today's Christians to watch and pray always that we might be accounted worthy to escape the wrath to come upon the earth if we are automatically going to be raptured?

I Thessalonians 5:9 explains that God doesn't want us to experience this Tribulation Period, but throughout the rest of His Word, it becomes obvious that our exemption from this wrath is conditional and that it is dependent upon our being FILLED with His Holy Spirit. We were not "appointed" to wrath, but unto salvation by Christ from this time of horrors upon the earth; so don't fall into this wrath through negligence!

Please don't take solace in the theory that all born-again Believers will be taken home in the rapture. This is simply a theory of man, and may well have been created in order to be able to soothe the itching ears spoken of in II Timothy 4:3. The problem becomes more pronounced, however, as this theory has now been deemed doctrinal by some theologians, (almost to the extent that those who would disagree are tagged as heretics!).

Bear in mind that the theological bandwagon can be a dangerous place to ride when God's literal Word speaks so powerfully in opposition to even such commonly accepted theories. Many people now believe that there is no hell, but that doesn't change God's Truth in the least. Some day many will have to acknowledge it. If a theory is wrong, it does not matter HOW MANY people believe it, how popular it is among theologians, or how dogmatically it is taught in our churches, God's Truth is not modified by it the least bit! The Bible is God's Word to us, and it is His unalterable Truth. When a theory of man comes into conflict with the teachings in God's Word, we must be sure we maintain the right perspective. We must ALWAYS make God's Word to us our final authority.

In this case, the commonly accepted theory that all born-again Believers will be raptured seems to be contested repeatedly in God's Word. If it could (by some stretch of logic) be correct, then Praise God! All such Believers will be going home when He comes, and the author would be DELIGHTED to stand corrected! However, should that theory be as full of holes as the Bible seems to indicate, many born-again (though backslidden and/or asleep) Believers will intensely regret that they chose to stay on the theological bandwagon, ignoring the seemingly clear-cut warnings in God's Word to get right with Him BEFORE His return!

In Revelation 2 Yeshua informs the Church of Ephesus that unless they turned around, He will remove their candlestick. In the preceding chapter, verse 20, He revealed the symbolism of this candlestick. IT WAS THE CHURCH ITSELF. Now He was speaking to Christians, so if He didn't mean He would remove the church from its eternal salvation, the inference would almost certainly be that He would remove it from its appointed position of temporal salvation from the wrath of God during the Tribulation Period!

In Revelation 3:4 He tells the Church of Sardis that there are a FEW who have not defiled their Garments, and they shall walk with Him in white: for they are worthy. How do we keep our garments undefiled? We certainly can't do it on our own! It can ONLY be accomplished by the fullness of God's Spirit in the "yielded" Believer! Would you rather "overcome" by the power of God's fullness in you PRIOR to the rapture, or by the intense purification process that is to occur DURING the Tribulation period when Christians are martyred?

My friend, the Bridegroom is even at the doors, as evidenced by the events in the news today, new technological capabilities, the rapid formation of the One World Government foretold almost 2000 years ago, and Israel's persistent coalition with her sworn enemy, saying peace when there is no peace. The Lord didn't devote such an extensive amount of Scripture to prophecy to be ignored. HE WANTS US TO KNOW WHEN HE IS COMING! We are to know when He is even at the door. I Thessalonians 5:1-11 tells us that Yeshua will come as a thief in the night, but that WE as Christians are not to be in darkness that that day should overtake us as a thief.

We have His Word to read and His Spirit to guide us, and He intends for us to be awake; ready for His return. Over and over we are exhorted to be watching for Him, waiting for Him, ready to meet Him when He comes for His Bride. We're living on borrowed time my friend, so stop saying, "Lord, you can have this part of me, but leave that part alone. I'm not ready to trust You with it yet", or "I'm having too much fun in the flesh with it right now". Revelation tells us that the Bride must make herself ready. She, herself, cannot produce the results of readiness, but she must initiate the process of readiness by submitting herself totally to Christ so He can prepare her. He will not do so until she fully submits her will to Him. Halfhearted compromise is simply not in His program!

The Bridegroom is even at the door for His Bride. From all appearances today, He may be prophetically ready to gather in the First Fruit Harvest of Believers any day now. Is your fruit ripe? Can He harvest you when He comes? Now is the time to do spiritual inventory. Don't even wait until tomorrow. We must be ready when He comes, or the door will be shut, and the Tribulation will be beckoning with no reprieve in sight. Don't be found here after He has come and gone with His First Fruit Harvest, His Bride.

An expected part of living in Christ is to be awake and aware. We are admonished to be watching for the Bridegroom to return for His Bride. Why not be sure you are right with God now, and not risk being subjected to His wrath? Isn't that what is best for you anyway? It is the ONLY way the Christian will EVER truly be happy! Why not REALLY TRUST HIM with every jot and tittle of your life, and yield it completely to Him. You won't believe the difference it will make!!!

If we are among the living His Spirit will be prompting us to seek His Word, and grow in understanding and watchfulness in these last days, and to share with others the impending return of the Bridegroom. A major indicator of whether we are truly living in Him will be to have a heart for others, and to want to be sure they too are ready when He comes.

Many indications in God's Word point to His return only for those who are truly ready and waiting for Him, living the resurrected life He intends for us to live. Are you among the "living"? May God find us waiting, watching, and ready when He comes!